


Compliments to the Chef

by BabelFishing



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Comfort, Cooking, Domestic, Domestic Fluff, F/F, Fluff, Food, Lazy Mornings, Light-Hearted, One Shot, Personal Growth, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-29
Updated: 2020-11-29
Packaged: 2021-03-10 04:34:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,076
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27778465
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BabelFishing/pseuds/BabelFishing
Summary: Catra and Adora enjoy the beginnings of a perfect Saturday morning, starting with a lovingly prepared meal and then...maybe more.
Relationships: Adora/Catra (She-Ra)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 71





	Compliments to the Chef

**Author's Note:**

> I’ve had some serious writer’s block lately, and this was exactly what I needed to work that out. I hope you enjoy it!
> 
> Based on a real recipe and inspired by this tumblr post -  
> https://metalesbo.tumblr.com/post/635341969158242304/the-reason-i-headcanon-catra-learning-how-to-cook

“What do you want, Adora?”

Through the tall, arched windows of Bright Moon’s kitchen, soft morning like trickled in and came to rest across a few empty workstations. Copper pots and pans of all shapes and sizes hung motionlessly from wall racks, catching the morning light and reflecting it in a warm, earthy glow toward the ceiling. Even the tiled floors spoke of the kitchen’s tranquility, with its surface dull yet clean for the first time in a week.

Both aesthetically and practically, Bright Moon’s kitchen was a gourmet’s dream come true. But at this hour, on a Saturday morning, the castle’s team of chefs was nowhere to be found. Instead, a single practitioner stood beside the main stove, stirring the contents of a saucepan and calling out to her visitor across the room.

“Oh, just the usual is fine.”

From just beyond the doorway, Adora vocalized her request while stifling another yawn. Without the need to see anyone else this morning, she’d allowed her blonde locks to hang loose and untamed at her shoulders. Some sleep still clung to her bluebell eyes, but the sight of Catra hard at work managed to shake that lingering dreariness before she could even take a sip of coffee.

Indeed, there was little that Adora looked forward to more at the end of a week than Catra’s cooking. They’d made it a bit of a tradition over the past few months, since Catra had taken an interest in cooking after spying on the Bright Moon chefs from an air duct (“Old habits die hard,” the reformed Horde commander had explained at the time).

Since then, her partner’s skills at the stove and cutting board had improved precipitously, to the point that she’d begun experimenting with new ingredients in her practiced recipes. At this point, even the most discerning palette would hardly know that Catra had learned about the concept of “spices” only half a year prior.

To Adora, though, watching Catra cook was just as satisfying as the finished dish. Each time she stepped into the kitchen on a morning like this, she couldn’t help but smile at the many ways her best friend had become a culinarian, both in practice and in appearance. After all, in her wildest dreams as a kid, she could never have imagined Catra as she was now arrayed, with an apron slung around her shoulders and a paisley bandana holding back her newly fluffy bangs.

“You know I can make other stuff now, right?”

Catra remained focused on her task, even as Adora crossed the kitchen and saddled a nearby bar stool. In anticipation of her partner’s order, Catra had already pulled three heirloom eggs from the fridge and set them beside a modest cut of beef side. As soon as she had offered it for the first time, steak and eggs had become Adora’s favorite. This predictability had been an asset at first, while she was still learning the ropes. But now, this basic breakfast pairing felt repetitive, especially as she longed to whip up something novel for her better half.

“Yeah, I know,” Adora nodded, “but you always cook the eggs perfectly. I literally dream about them all week.”

“You dream about fighting people all week,” Catra corrected with a witty grin, “I know because you sleep-elbowed me awake this morning.”

Reflexively, Adora’s hand shot up to her mouth, as if she’d sworn out of turn.

“Oh no, I didn’t…did I? I’m so sorry!”

Catra shook off the apology, having not been all that bothered by the rude awakening in the first place.

“Don’t worry about it. I needed to get up anyway. These peppers aren’t going to cut themselves, after all.”

With the chef’s knife in her right hand, Catra gestured over to an assortment of bell peppers propped up against the backsplash. Perhaps intentionally, their colors matched the rising sun’s hues as they passed through the adjacent window – red to orange to yellow.

“Oh, what are those for?”

Adora was genuinely curiously, having noticed her partner’s recent interest in working with more vegetables – a healthy commodity they rarely had access to growing up in the Horde.

After finishing a few swift slices, Catra set down her knife and finally turned in Adora’s direction. As she spoke up, Adora thought her opposite looked a bit bashful, almost embarrassed to talk about her muse.

“After Scorpia found out that I’d started cooking more, she mailed me basically every cookbook she could find in the old Horde commissary. It took forever to go through them all, but I found a recipe in one that’s sorta like paella, but with tomatoes and peppers instead of beans and saffron.”

Not knowing the first thing about fine cuisine of any kind, Adora simply nodded along in reply and tried to imagine this new dish. It sounded interesting in any case, at least for a creature of culinary habit like herself.

“Anyway,” Catra continued after leaning over and hoisting a pitch black cast iron pan onto the adjacent cooking grate, “I was just going to make a small batch for myself, to taste it. But since you’re here, will you…maybe try it? It could be absolutely awful, so I don’t want to get your hopes up or anything…”

She trailed off, her confidence suddenly wavering. Even after plenty of practice and numerous successes over the past several months, Adora was still surprised to see her partner’s conviction for her new passion flicker like this. But there was a reliable fix, she knew, and it never failed to pay off for her own palette. 

“Are you kidding me? I’ll absolutely try it. If you’re making it, I know it’ll be delicious.”

Blushing lightly, Catra turned away and pretended to inspect her cooking pan. Adora’s praise always had that effect on her, now more so that she was going out on a limb to cultivate an unfamiliar skill. If she was being honest with herself, she had really thrown herself into learning the craft so that she could make new foods for Adora to enjoy. Her partner’s satisfied smile was a reward enough after an arduous recipe, and it never failed to warm her spirit more than any cooking flame.

“Alright, alright, no need to flatter me,” Catra beamed after grabbing her knife and carving up the last bell pepper. “I’m just warning you, if this thing is horrible, know that it came from a Horde cookbook.”

“As long as it’s better than the brown ration bars, you’ll be beating my expectations.”

“Wow, don’t set the bar too high, Adora. I’d hate to disappoint the person who still insists that the grey bars were better than the tan bars.”

Adora couldn’t help but laugh, knowing full well that all of the Horde’s ration bars were the exact same flavor – bland, with a touch of sawdust. As she recalled their squad’s informal ration bar trading ring, she made her way over to the refreshment table near the dining room entrance, where a carafe rested on an enchanted heating plate. After pouring herself a cup of coffee, she called over to Catra and offered the same.

“No, I’m good,” Catra signaled, “I’m trying to drink less of that stuff, anyway. It makes me feel way too jittery.”

“Suit yourself.”

Adora then made her way back over to the stove area and reclaimed her seat. Once she settled back in, she noticed that Catra had moved on to slicing a coiled sausage into coins. Each resulting disk was impressively uniform, particularly for how quickly Catra was rocking her knife.

“Ooooo what’s that?” she asked after Catra again set aside her knife.

“Just a normal sausage, like the kind the cooks usually serve for breakfast,” Catra explained, her eyes still locked on her hands’ action. “I’m adding some oregano and basil though, to make it a bit more lively. You’ll like it, I promise.”

“I’m sure I will. Is there anything I can do to help?”

Catra considered the offer for a moment, but then remembered her partner’s previous escapades in the kitchen. More than anything, those rare occasions revealed that Adora was at her best with a sword, not a butcher’s knife, in hand.

“That’s alright, I think I’ve got this.”

On that note, Catra artfully scraped some garlic off her cutting board and clicked on the stove’s heat. Soon, the garlic began to sizzle lightly, after which Catra tossed in the just-cut sausage. As the disks hit the pan, Adora was surprised at how much they crackled on the cast iron surface. Some grease started to spark up as well, prompting them both to move back momentarily.

With the heat turned down slightly, both women settled in for a few minutes and listened to the crackling fill an otherwise silent kitchen. On banquet nights, every inch of the chamber would be alive with activity, often from daybreak until well after sunset.

But on days like this, while the regular chefs slept in, the pair relished their opportunity to indulge the mundane. Neither could put their finger on it, but the domesticity of the arrangement felt more and more comfortable with each passing week, as they endeavored to make up for so much lost time.

Adora eventually broke the pensive silence, just as the sausage began to darken.

“Mmmmm…it already smells so good.”

Nonplussed, Catra pushed the coins to one side of the pan and reached for the peppers.

“You say that every time I heat up onions or garlic.”

Catra wasn’t wrong, but Adora wasn’t willing to admit to the cliché.

“Well, it’s true. And besides, I’m getting hungry over here.”

Catra knew this already, based on her partner’s present expression. Its mix of determination and eagerness was all too familiar after years of sharing early morning patrol duties. She’d even seen Adora try to hide it before, as when she skipped meals to comfort her after Shadow Weaver’s more stringent punishments.

“Relax, alright? It’ll be done when it’s done. If you wanted it to go faster, you should have gotten out of bed earlier.”

Adora knew that Catra was trying to bait her by faking indignity, but she fell for the ruse all the same.

“I was so comfy, though, especially before you got up. I could have stayed in bed all day if you hadn’t left.”

“We both know that’s a lie, Miss Fidgets-During-Meditation.”

Again, Catra had her number this morning.

“Okay, maybe not…but wouldn’t that be nice? Just a full morning in bed, nowhere to go, plenty of time for whispering and cuddling and you know…maybe more.”

The thought of waking up to Adora’s sleeping kisses sent a little shiver down Catra’s spine. For a moment, her eyes lost focus on the shimmering pan before her as she imagined such a perfect morning, where they’d have each other entirely to themselves. No meetings to go to, no royal ambassadors to meet, no queens teleporting into their bedroom unannounced - just the two them, starting the day with a little homemade breakfast and then…like Adora said, maybe more.

“Catra…I think something’s burning!”

Adora’s warning was spot on, as it snapped Catra out of her trance in time to smell smoke. Reflexively, Catra let out a small yelp and re-stirred the contents of the pan, revealing some charred edges on the multi-colored peppers – not a big deal or anything, she thought, but a timely reminder of why she needed to leave her bedroom thoughts outside the kitchen.

“It’s okay, they’re fine,” Catra reassured herself aloud, “it’s just a little bit of added…flavor, I guess.”

“Anyway,” she continued while stirring in some tomato paste from a nearby bowl, “this is just about ready. Do you want to help me with this next step?”

Adora saw this as a fair opportunity to get back at her partner’s persistent sarcasm.

“Oooooh, I thought you didn’t need my help,” the blonde sneered, though her inability to lie convincingly shone through in her tone.

In response, Catra grabbed a ramekin of ochre powder from the nearby spice rack and set it beside Adora’s coffee mug. “Well, I thought this step would be easy enough for a klutz like you.”

Despite the ribbing, Adora was excited to help. Quickly, she rose from her seat and grabbed the ramekin, holding it cautiously in her cupped hands like a baby bird. Assuming that she knew what needed to be done next, she stepped up to the stove and began tilting the small dish forward.

“Wait wait wait!”

Catra threw up her free hand to stop Adora from dumping the entire container of paprika into the pan. Her sudden movement caused Adora to jump back slightly, the ramekin tipping forward further in her hands before she managed to re-secure it. A few loose grains of spice managed to escape in the interim, but hardly enough to impact the dish’s flavor.

With a look that silently said, “this is why I do the cooking, you idiot,” Catra tried to keep her cool and explain, “this recipe only needs a pinch of paprika. So, just grab a little and toss it in.”

“Oh, that makes more sense,” Adora admitted, looking down at the sheer amount of spice she held. “So, like this?”

With her thumb and forefinger, Adora pinched a small amount of the reddish spice and lifted it just above the ramekin’s edge. Catra silently nodded in agreement and stepped back slightly so that Adora could easily stand over the active pan.

Once there, Adora looked down at the sparkling mix of meat and vegetables, uncertain if there was some special method for applying spice that she didn’t know about. Looking up to Catra again for reassurance, the brunette simply smiled and flicked her ears in encouragement.

“Go ahead. Just throw it in there.”

At the command, Adora spiked down her pinch of paprika, causing it to spread on contact with the pan’s bottom. Almost immediately, though, the remaining spice rebounded, causing a small, reddish cloud to rise up and catch both women by surprised. They tried their best to dodge out of its way, but both ended up inhaling some of the aerosolized paprika and coughing hard in turn.

As she tried to catch her breath, Catra waved up the hem of her apron in a bid at dispersing the miasma. Her agitation worked and soon enough, both Catra and Adora were only struggling to breathe on account of their shared laughter.

“I stand corrected,” Catra playfully ridiculed as she pushed Adora out of the way. “I’m glad I didn’t give you the cayenne pepper.”

Tears started welling up in Adora’s eyes as both the spice and the laughter took their toll. Leaning up against the counter, she tried to calm her giggling, only to find herself cackling harder after noticing Catra typical look of kittenish disgust.

While Adora regathered her composure and took another sip of coffee, Catra sprinkled in the aforementioned cayenne pepper and a few heaping spoonfuls of cooked rice from the nearby saucepan. With a few firm stirs, the rice took on a rich orange hue that reminded Catra of a curry she’d made a few days prior.

After wiping away a lingering tear, Adora peered over and inspected the dish’s progress. Before her eyes reached the pan, however, she spied a few tinted blotches speckled across her partner’s face.

“Um, Catra? You have something on your face. A few somethings, actually.”

Narrowing her eyes, Catra turned toward Adora with a puzzled expression.

“Where? What is it?”

Setting her stirring spoon aside, Catra pawed at her face in an attempt to locate the errant material. After a few swipes, darkened streaks appeared on her palms, clueing her into the material’s identity. After reaching down to brush the paprika off on her apron, a better idea crept into Catra’s head – something that would surely take the smirk off Adora’s expectant face.

“Hey, it looks like there’s a bit on your face, too!”

Jolting forward, Catra retracted her claws and drew her hands across Adora’s cheeks and forehead. The latter tried her best to dodge out of the way, but when she looked back up, she also had spice residue distributed across her face. The sight started Catra laughing again in earnest, especially after Adora started looking around frantically for a towel.

Once she managed to clear away the unwanted seasoning, Adora, too, started laughing once more. Despite everything that had happened and the years that had passed, she knew that she could count on Catra to pull an endearingly childish prank at the first opportunity.

“And with that,” Catra declared, “your breakfast, fit for a queen, is now ready.”

Any lingering annoyance in Adora’s eyes vanished at the announcement as her hunger surged back to the forefront. She’d have been glad to dig in 20 minutes ago, but the richly colored scramble now before her reminded her of why she’d waited. Its aroma was also unlike anything she’d smelled before, both smokey and sweet at once.

“Wait, is Glimmer joining us?” Adora inquired while grabbing a set of plates from the nearby drying rack.

“Nope, this is all for you.”

“Oh…I don’t think I can eat all of this, not right now.”

“Not with that attitude, you won’t!”

Serving spoon now in hand, Catra began to ladle small mounds of amber rice, charred peppers, and grizzled sausage onto her partner’s plate, ensuring that she had more than a hearty serving. She then doled out a few spoonfuls to herself, set her own plate aside, and turned her eager gaze toward Adora, who had just picked up her fork.

“So, what do you think?”

Gently, Adora blew on a forkful of pipping peppers and rice. “Hold on, I haven’t even tried it yet.”

But as soon as she bit down on her portion, Adora knew instantly like this could be her new favorite. The spices mixed together perfectly, despite her inadvertent attempt at sabotage, and the seasoning on the sausage brought out its savory character. The rice held tight to the tomatoes’ tart profile as well, without causing the whole dish to become bitter in turn.

“Oh, Catra…” she started in, but faltered as she failed to find the right words to describe what she was tasting.

Catra, for her part, jumped immediately to conclusions.

“Oh, it’s terrible isn’t? I knew I shouldn’t have trusted anything the Horde passed off as edible. Maybe if I had left out the peppers, it would have been less bitter and earthy…or maybe I shouldn’t have used as much tomato…”

Just as she tried to name off another perceived misstep, a single finger pressed itself to Catra’s lips.

“No, Catra, it’s amazing. I’ve seriously never tasted anything like this. I don’t know why the Horde kept this kind of food from us for all those years. But waiting to try it was worth it. You’ve really outdone yourself.”

Not sure what else to say, Catra decided to give her creation a try as well. She, too, was initially taken aback at how flavorful it had turned out. Not too spicy, not to greasy…just the right balance she had imagined when the recipe jumped off the page.

“You’re not kidding. That’s pretty good.”

“Pretty good?!” Adora exclaimed, a bit of rice catching on her lip, “this is more than “good”. I literally want this again for lunch later and then for dinner after that.”

“You’re just saying that,” Catra demurred, still unaccustomed to her work being applauded to any degree.

“No, I’m being honest with you. You made all this on your own and that’s absolutely amazing to me. I know I say this every week, but I really mean it – you’re already becoming such an amazing cook and I’m so proud of how hard you’ve worked to get this far.”

For a moment, Catra opened her mouth to deflect Adora’s heartfelt commendation. But in her core, she again felt the spark of her partner’s kind words catch on dry kindling. Learning to accept them had been hard at first, let alone the same from the likes of Bow and Glimmer. But even from day one, just hours after she’d poured her heart out in the planet’s core, she found herself believing Adora’s words – whether they were about her love or just about the cooking.

“Thanks.”

It was the best she could do to sound genuinely appreciative, and she knew Adora would understand all the same.

Adora managed to make her appreciation apparent in more than just words, though. In what felt like a blink of the eye to Catra, the warrior across from her had managed to finish her plate and look up for more.

“Get it yourself,” the brunette motioned with a chuckle. “This isn’t the Horde mess hall. You don’t have to wait for seconds.”

Not needing to be told twice, Adora rose and took the serving spoon in hand. Soon enough, she had a second full serving that she managed to put away at a comparably fast clip.

“Okay, I may have overstated my interest in lunch,” Adora concluded after triumphantly setting aside her fork. “That _might_ have been enough for the whole day.”

“I hope not,” Catra sarcastically chided. “I already know what I’m cooking for dinner, too.”

After letting out an impressive belch, Adora smiled at the prospect. “Consider me excited for this evening, then.”

Their informal meal finished, Catra nabbed both of their plates and began to clean up. Adora, meanwhile, sipped her coffee with a pleased look on her face.

 _What could make this morning any better?_ she wondered silently to herself.

_Well…_

Rising to her feet suddenly, Adora stretched and looked back toward the kitchen door, her best coy inflection in the queue.

“I was thinking about heading back up to our room after this and just taking it easy. General Juliet called off our sparing session for this morning so…I have nowhere to be.”

Turning back to her partner, she noticed Catra’s attention drawn to the kitchen’s master sink. There, a modest stack of dishes had formed, now that Catra had added in her cookware. Unsure if her subtle hint had been heard, Adora spoke up again, this time from all the way across the kitchen.

“I was hoping someone might join me - if she isn’t too busy cleaning up from breakfast, that is.”

This time, Catra’s tail flickered slightly, a sure sign that she’d heard the turn in her partner’s voice. With an intrigued smile, she turned her head and winked in her Adora’s direction.

“This will just take a minute or two, so don’t wait up for me.”

Rolling her eyes and shrugging at Catra’s sudden devotion to responsibility, Adora slipped out the door with a final, inviting quip.

“Suit yourself.”

Her exit left the kitchen mostly silent again, save for the sound of running water and copper pans clicking together. Though she hated getting any part of her body wet, Catra knew that she should scrub their dishes down before leaving or else the head chef would be on her case for leaving behind a mess.

Looking down at the wash water’s surface, Catra saw herself reflected, a few flecks of paprika still dotting her cheeks and forehead. In the same instant, Catra saw a version of herself that even a few months ago seemed unattainable – focused, collected, and finally fostering a skill set that required neither stealth nor aggression. In a roundabout sense, this cooking hobby made her feel that much more grown up, like she was progressing toward a better version of herself that so recently felt like it had been closed off for good.

 _But am I really that responsible yet?_ , Catra asked aloud to her mirrored self.

She didn’t need to ponder the hypothetical for long.

Just a beat later, the sink fell silent and a well-worn apron fell gently to the floor, having missed its intended hook by a mile. The dishes remained in place, leaving plenty of work for a disgruntled bus boy to handle after returning from his morning off. Even a certain cookbook lingered on the counter, its dog-eared pages wondering where its owner had run off to in such a hurry. 

Catra, meanwhile, didn’t give the kitchen’s condition a second thought. She was already out the door, her thoughts now returning to the perfect Saturday morning before her.


End file.
